Sign in
Register
The teams were in action Tuesday at the Comox Valley Fairgrounds, erecting what will eventually be the transitional home for the Vancouver Island Music Festival.
It’s an annual situation that Doug Cox, the festival’s longtime artistic director, has witnessed firsthand since the mid-’90s. He was on hand this week for the first day of editing and marveled at the close-knit team of more than 250 other people. people who run toward a similar purpose and laugh while doing so.
Those groups have something of a family of festivals, Cox said, and they play a big role in the fortunes of their annual three-day event. “We are lucky because about 70 percent of our 1,200 volunteers are returning volunteers. We now have several second-generation volunteers, many of whom grew up here. It’s exciting to watch that game.
The Roots music festival, known simply as Musicfest, celebrates its 30th anniversary this weekend. Cox has fronted 28 of them, having played the first two albums as a musician. It is then a real small festival, about 500 people. That’s when I fell in love with the Comox Valley.
Cox landed in Cumberland after years in Victoria, where he played a key role in the music scene, either as a performer or as a promoter. In 1995, when Musicfest began, South Vancouver Island hosted several festivals with similar themes, and the contest catered to a crowded community. Cox enjoyed the blank page of what the region had to offer and, over the course of 3 decades, made the staple of the Comox Valley Folklore Society one of the largest summer occasions of its kind in the province.
Cox learned what works and what doesn’t work in the Comox Valley, never deviating from the Musicfest-winning balance of emerging and established folk, global, and blues bands. The edition, which begins on Friday, has an exceptional line-up, headed by Lucinda Williams. , Leo Kottke, Daniel Lanois and The Milk Carton Kids teamed up through artists from Africa (Les Aunties; Bantu Continua Uhuru Consciousness), Chile (Chola Y Gitano) and Korea (Second Moon).
“The festival world has replaced a lot of things in the last 10 years and has a much more corporate world. But we’re still that funky, nonprofit, community-run festival. The occasion we organize, with the spirit that emanates, is what Musicfest does. We’re not going to suddenly become a new country music festival to make money. “
Cox decides not to hire the most sensible stars, for several reasons. But he did make a few calls during the planning process for this year’s festival to see if Neil Young was available. Young was scheduled to play 12 shows in Canada and the United States in July.
“If we had, it would have been amazing,” Cox said. Young canceled his excursion last month due to fitness issues, news that would have “massacred” Musicfest, he added.
“For a festival like ours, which has only one artist, there will be great disorders if this artist cancels your choice. We would have gone bankrupt.
Musicfest operates on a balanced budget sticking to what has worked in the past, despite minor adjustments. Cox is not averse to stylistic diversification and tried several times a year to disseminate new musical initiatives to Musicfest fans. From the gospel-inspired revue Holy Steel featuring the Lee Boys and Calvin Cooke and a supergroup led by Béla Fleck, Zakir Hussain and Edgar Meyer, in tribute to Steely Dan, Stealing Dan will perform on one of the festival’s six stages this weekend.
Cox expects about 8,000 more people at the venue each day, an influx figure that has been accumulating over years of trial and error. Musicfest enthusiasts have come to accept Cox’s claim as true, and with a track record that includes past appearances through Emmylou Harris, John Prine, Graham Nash, Bonnie Raitt, Sarah McLachlan, Barenaked Ladies, Little Feat, and Allison Krauss, among many others, Musicfest is expected to continue its winning streak this weekend.
This is smart only for businesses and individuals, but also for the Comox Valley as a whole. Music with a variety of perspectives has a unique way of bringing network members together, Cox said.
“We need other people to come here to be informed and participate in discussions about what’s happening in the world,” Cox said. “Without favoring one aspect or the other, in terms of political beliefs, this is the only position in the Comox Valley, where hippies, cyclists and loggers, all members of our network, sit in a box and celebrate together. This will have to be the healthiest scenario you can have. And that’s why we’re here.
[email protected]
© 2024 Times Colonist